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Television industry executives were chattering last week about the January numbers from media advertising information company SMI.

The numbers, which are based on data from 13 media agencies that account for about 85 per cent of total TV ad spending, showed the capital-city TV ad market grew 11 per cent in January – a bigger increase than most TV executives expected.

But most talk centred on the TV networks’ revenue shares, more specifically, Ten Network’s low share of 23.7 per cent.

That was down on the 24.6 per cent share of revenue Ten had in January 2010 and well behind Seven Network’s 42 per cent share (down from 44.5 per cent) and Nine Network’s 34.3 per cent (up from 30.9 per cent).

Ten’s lack of big sporting events in summer traditionally drags down its revenue share, but rival TV executives were still surprised by its weak performance.

The SMI data under-states Nine’s revenue share, as it does not cover direct advertisers; that is, companies that book ads directly with the TV networks rather than through media agencies.

David Gyngell
, chief executive of Nine’s parent, Nine Entertainment Co, said it had a 35 to 36 per cent revenue share so far this year “despite the [Australian Open] tennis", which generated disappointing ratings but good ad revenue for Seven.

Nine Entertainment Co boss David Gyngell was also happy with the performance of Gem, the digital channel launched in late September.

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Mr Gyngell said Gem and Nine’s other digital channel, Go, “had a great summer".

“We’re very pleased with Gem," he said. “It’s reaching its target market of women and grocery buyers, and giving us new advertising opportunities compared with Go and the main Nine channel."

Gem is aimed at women 35 and older, while Go is pitched at people aged 16 to 39 and the main Nine channel at 25-to-54s.

Mr Gyngell said Go had been affected by Eleven, the digital channel aimed at 13-to-29s launched by Ten Network last month.

“[Seven Network’s] 7mate has also been impacted, but the biggest impact has been on the main Ten channel," he said. Ten executives denied Eleven was taking viewers from their main channel.

SMI, the Sydney-based media advertising information business set up by Sue Fennessy and Jane Schulze in early 2009, will know by late April or early May when it will be able to open offices in Europe and the United States.

Last week SMI hired former MediaCom chairman
Anne Parsons
(pictured), who moved from Australia to France in late 2009, as its European chief executive.

Ms Fennessy has been spending one week a month in the US for the past 18 months, talking to media agencies about supplying data on the ad revenue they book to SMI. “We’ll know the timing of our move into Europe and the US by April-May," she said.

In Australia, 13 media agencies supply data to SMI, which sells the data to 26 companies, including media companies and investment banks. The only large media companies not buying its data each month are Seven Media Group’s television arm (Seven’s Pacific Magazines and Yahoo!7 do buy it) and APN News & Media.

SMI is owned by Ms Fennessy and Ms Schulze, although Ms Fennessy said it had “set aside a percentage of the company for staff".

The pricing of the 30 Foxtel channels Telstra will start distributing in capital cities through its T-Box internet-enabled digital video recorder will remain a mystery until closer to their launch in May.

The deal between Telstra and Foxtel, announced last week after six months of negotiations, will see the former buy the channels from the latter for an undisclosed price. Telstra will be responsible for pricing and marketing the channels, plus a video-on-demand service that Foxtel will start providing later this year.

Telstra’s executive director, media, applications and user experience, J. B. Rousselot, said the pricing would not necessarily mirror the $19.50 a month Foxtel and Microsoft are charging for people who subscribe to 30 pay TV channels through the latter’s Xbox Live products.

“The pricing will depend on how we bundle the Foxtel service with other Telstra products," Mr Rousselot said. “We will wrap it up in bundles at different price points."

Media executives claimed the negotiations over the deal dragged on because Foxtel, which is 50 per cent owned by Telstra, was worried T-Box would erode sales of its iQ and iQ2 digital video recorders.

But Foxtel’s executive director, sales and product, Patrick Delany, said: “Four to six months [of negotiations] is not unusual for a deal of this size."

While the marketing directors polled said their spending on media advertising would increase an average of 6 per cent this year, spending on non-media – often called below-the-line – marketing tools was expected to grow 7.6 per cent.

Public relations was the most popular below-the-line activity last year, used by 74 per cent of respondents.

It will retain that title this year, with 71 per cent saying they will use it.

Sponsorship ranked second on the list expected to be used this year, nominated by 65 per cent of respondents.

Email and viral email marketing was equal second, followed by point-of-sale displays (62 per cent), sales promotions (53 per cent), addressed direct mail (48 per cent) and exhibitions (48 per cent). Door-to-door selling was the least popular, at 10 per cent.

Two months after he quit as non-executive chairman of the Photon Group-owned media planning agency Bellamyhayden, Simon Bellamy (pictured) has resurfaced with his own business, Bellamy Consulting.

Mr Bellamy and business partner Phil Hayden pioneered specialised media planning when they set up The Media Palace in 1994.

But his new business is not a media agency: its role is to advise advertisers on how their media and creative agencies can work together more effectively. “Some clients manage the relationship between media and creative agencies very well, but others struggle," Mr Bellamy said.

“Obviously, the agencies need to work together well to ensure the best result for the client."

Bellamy Consulting would also advise companies on how to brief their media and creative agencies and, Mr Bellamy said, act as “a sounding board".

“Being a marketing director can be a lonely job," he said. “You’re caught between the company’s board/chief executive and its brand managers. Some marketing directors are looking for someone independent they can bounce ideas off."